The best op shops in Sydney

This week's best shopping events

The best bookshops in Sydney

There are few greater pleasures in life than visiting a quality bookshop.

Shopping

The best plant nurseries in Sydney

Thinking of starting or adding to your collection of house plants?

Shopping

Ethical shopping in Sydney

We’ve found a handful of local businesses that are putting people, animals and the environment first.

Health and beauty in Sydney

Shopping

The best tattoo parlours in Sydney

It’s worth investing a little time into who and where you should get inked before making the decision to permanently commit.

Health and beauty

The best spas in Sydney

Whether you want hardcore results, or just a bit of chill time, Sydney's palaces of self-rejuvenation have you covered. So book it, bring a magazine and prepare to bliss out.

Shopping

Beauty products by Indigenous businesses

These four beauty brands are using centuries-old Indigenous Australian ingredients in their body bars and shampoos.

Health and beauty

The best nail artists in Sydney

Nail art has flourished from a DIY underground affair right into mainstream salons. Miss Lauren LaRouge is one of Sydney’s most in-demand nail artists, dazzling the digits of Sydneysiders who are looking to turn their nail beds into miniature canvases. “People think it’s this crazy over-the-top thing, but once people try it – even starting with a feature nail – they usually get hooked,” says Miss LaRouge, while painting pastel pink polka dots and leopard spots on Time Out's claws.A trip to Japan originally piqued Miss LaRouge’s interest in nail artistry, and on her return home she started using herself has a mani mannequin. “I did a course in Sydney, which was great for hygiene, acrylics, but nail art is just one small component, so I taught myself a lot and practiced on myself.” Lauren’s background in burlesque dancing – she’s an MC and ukulele-player over at Oxford Street’s Slide – dovetailed neatly with her newfound passion. “I used to add things to my costumes, bling them up and embellish them. I then took this to my nails.” This soon enough spread to the hands of friends and family, before she made the big jump and quit her office job to pursue her passion full time.Rather than the production-line set-up that many salons employ, Lauren ensures her little corner at Indulge Studios is one filled with sass, colour and solid client banter. “A beautician once told me that I shouldn’t bother getting into nail art and that the industry was dead, but I want to put the love back

Health and beauty

The best barbershops in Sydney

Finding the right barber can be a lifelong search — ask any man who’s had too much or not enough of his locks cavalierly lopped off and stepped out onto the street disaffected. Thankfully, there are experts in this area who excel in getting the discerning man’s ‘do’ just right. Here, some of Sydney’s best barbers are recommended.

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JJ's Place

Jameson is hosting a blockbuster festival called JJ's Place filled with live music, exclusive beer and whiskey tastings and delicious snacks for one day only at Commune in Waterloo. The best part? It's free entry, with your first round on the house for you and a mate, if you register on the site.
JJ's Place promises a packed and exciting day with your pals, especially if your crew are music lovers. The festival will be raging with sets from Gooch Palms, the Delta Riggs, Sloan Peterson and Display Homes. The tunes will be flowing the entire event with FBi DJs spinning faves between live sets.
The festival also boasts the launch of Jameson Caskmates IPA editions, a blended Irish whiskey finished in IPA beer barrels. The hoppy, smooth whiskey will be served up the way it is best enjoyed, with fresh lemon and tonic. There'll also be other delicious selections from the Jameson Caskmates family to try: the stout with soda and orange; the hard shandy; and a limited edition Young Henrys Irish pale ale boilermaker. Alongside whiskey tastings, you'll also get the chance to watch a live barrel charring with the Jameson master distiller and Master cooper.
JJ's Place has also got great snacks to pair with all that delicious whiskey and beer, teaming up with two local legends to bring you custom plates and cocktails. Frankie's Pizza will be transporting their beloved pinball machines, serving up fresh slices, and flinging fresh apple and whiskey cocktails. Newtown gem Continental Deli

Check out the Four in Hand's new facelift

Beloved pub Four in Hand in Paddington has stood for more than 140 years. Recently it was under threat of becoming a residential development, but 12,000 people gathered to fight back. The passionate local support prevailed and Good Beer Company stepped in to buy the beloved Four in Hand and keep it running. After a style revamp, it's reopened and it's stronger than ever.
Gone are the days of fine dining: the restaurant has been replaced with a plush, rustic bistro serving up classic pub meals. Inside the building’s new interior the old has been preserved in the polished wooden features and sporting hall of fame, then blended with the new for a light and airy refresh. There are 13 TVs peppered throughout the pub’s rooms, and an enormous 90-inch screen dedicated to airing sports, so you never miss a goal. With cricket season on its way it couldn’t come soon enough.
Stop in for a Monday night parma at just $12.50 a pop, or try Fridays with their two-for-one steak special. Happy hour runs seven days per week, with craft beer and wine on offer for just $5 from 5-7pm. Tuesdays are trivia night, with $12.50 rump steaks and plenty of fun to be had. Or if you’re interested in cocktails, check out their weekend specials, with $12.50 Espresso Martinis on Fridays, Margaritas on Saturdays, and Bloody Marys on Sundays.For more on Four in Hand, check out their website here.

A Midnight Visit review

At first glance, the building – an old business furniture showroom situated between a rubbish-truck rental and a hipster coffee shop on the outskirts of Newtown – seems an unlikely place for a show.
But when you step inside, hand over your valuables and sign a safety waiver, it’s clear that A Midnight Visit is no ordinary show. This is an experience.
An Undertaker greets you and escorts you into this new, mystical world. You are warned that the residents you’ll encounter are strange and perhaps dangerous. You’ll be handed a surgical mask (no talking allowed). You might be separated from your friends – but you’ll find them again soon enough.
Now it’s time to pass over.
Based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe and populated with characters and scenarios you might recognise from this old-school goth (yes, there’s a Raven, and he and Poe have some serious sexual tension), A Midnight Visit is an exploratory playing space.
Over two levels, through winding corridors, secret passageways, and once through a magical, Narnia-style closet, you’ll be able to follow these characters through a world that’s a little bit horror movie with a dash of fun (an example: there’s a creepy church – but inside is a ball pit).
A Midnight Visit owes a great deal to Sleep No More, the immersive, abandoned-warehouse theatre experience whose take on Macbeth transferred from London to New York in 2011, where it has remained open and inspires a fanbase of dedicated, triple-digit repeat viewings. A Mid

Woodford Folk Festival 2018

Wedged between Christmas and New Year, the Woodford Folk Festival is a mainstay of the Aussie festival calendar. The six-day jamboree pulls more than 2,000 musicians and artists in front of a crowd of well over 100,000 people, and come festival time, the dedicated event site, Woodfordia, becomes a thriving village.
Woodford includes concerts, film, comedy, social dialogues, environmental debates, circus workshops, cabaret and a children’s festival. While the original iterations dating back to the 1980s had an anything-goes, hippie vibe, the festival has developed a more mainstream flavour. That said, its audience is as varied as its offering, with people of many orientations, nationalities and ages fronting up for an all-round good time.
The best way to experience Woodford is to bag a campsite, or you can step up your comfort by checking in to the tent motel known as Tent City. Off-site options are also available. If you don’t want to commit to the full program there are day tickets available. Campfires aren’t allowed, but the organisers make up for it by creating an enormous bonfire sculpture each year that ties in to a professionally directed show of music and theatre.